An early reminder

A legal burn on private land that escaped and lit up Grant Creek
on Saturday, was nothing more than a cold, black streak across 15
acres Sunday.

By evening, the two dozen firefighters working the burned ground
up Colorado Gulch, soaking hot spots and hauling water around the
fire's perimeter, had reduced the flames to memory and stored them
away as a reminder of more to come if moisture is sparse and people
aren't careful in the coming months.

"Yes, this was a serious fire in the sense it could have
threatened homes," said Jess Mickelson, battalion chief for the
Missoula Rural Fire Department. "But nobody was hurt, no houses
were damaged. There was not a significant loss - to some degree it
was a habitat improvement because it cleared out debris for grass
to grow back."

What began as a simple cleanup project for landowner Judy
Barker, became an unexpected blaze that found room to run northwest
onto public land and up a steep grassy slope marked with brush,
fallen snags and standing timber.

After first checking the burn permit hot line, then seeing for
herself that the weather was cool - it had rained in the morning
and there was moisture on the ground - Barker, who had finished the
bulk of her spring burning weeks before, raked up the remaining
needles and duff around her house to burn them at about 9:30
a.m.

By 1:30 p.m. the modest pine needle pile, which had burned down
to the size of a dinner plate and appeared to be out, came to life
with the encouragement of stiff afternoon winds.

"I thought the fire was out," said Barker, who raked through the
pile several times, checking for smoke and embers. "But I didn't
put my hand into it to check."

As 33 mph gusts sparked the quiet pile to life, the Colorado
Gulch neighborhood sprang into action and worked to corral the fire
with garden hoses and shovels.

They were joined by a rapid response of Missoula rural and city
firefighters, and state and federal firefighters, who remained to
finish the job Sunday.

"It's really the result of a very dry year coming off of last
year's dry conditions," Mickelson said. "Even with the moisture
we've had this spring, conditions are unpredictable - but the real
crux of it was the wind event. This was definitely a weather-driven
fire."

Mickelson said he encourages people to make a thorough check of
weather reports and to contact the National Weather Service before
burning.

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"We all need to use every weather tool we have available to make
a wise decision about burning," he said, adding that the National
Weather Service forecast Saturday afternoon's winds.

Because the fire burned onto public lands and state firefighters
were called to duty, Barker will likely be billed for the state's
efforts, said Todd Klemann, Missoula unit supervisor for the state
Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Klemann said he has not yet added up the costs, but past legal
burns that jumped from private to public lands and were about the
same size cost the landowner about $5,000.

Legal burning is expected to end June 1, Mickelson said.

"We feel pretty comfortable down on the valley floor," he said.
"But if we don't get any moisture soon, we'll be in trouble."

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